In the IDF's internal operational investigation conducted in recent months, jaw-dropping dramatic intelligence information was revealed. According to the information that was revealed, on the night of the October 7 massacre, intelligence sources from inside Gaza provided disturbing information about the Hamas organization's preparations for an attack and even warned of the possibility of a raid on the surrounding communities.
However, senior IDF officials refrained from acting because they chose to believe signs of deception intended to calm Israel's security forces. This was published today (Thursday) by Ronen Bergman in Yedioth Ahronoth and the Yent website.
The worrying signs that should have raised a huge red flag for decision makers included reports of special preparations for rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, and there were other worrying signs of emergency preparedness in the Gaza Strip, but Israeli security officials chose to remain indifferent and did not take any action.
According to the Yedioth report, the disturbing information about the intelligence failure was flooded with an investigation into the events of the war and appeared in documents recently examined by senior government and defense officials, which were presented by the sources as an explanation for the strong desire to bring about the resignation of Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi.
From those documents, it appears that, contrary to what has been published so far, Hamas is not only preparing for a possible attack on it, but the signs indicated the possibility that Hamas intends to attack Israel in the immediate term. The most disturbing thing is the fact that despite the intelligence information that flowed, senior officers chose to believe a series of calming signs spread by the terror organization in order to mislead and put Israel's security establishment to sleep. In an expedited assessment of the situation, they preferred to avoid the possibility of burning sensitive intelligence sources and did not activate extensive preparedness in preparation for the scenario of the attack.
These revelations reveal a dramatic and disturbing part of the events of the night before the massacre. One of the participants in discussions on the subject in recent months described them as an "atomic bomb."
The chronological order of the events:
At 2:00 a.m. (on Friday night, Simchat Torah), the Israeli Air Force received a report of unusual activity in Hamas' air force.
At 3:00 a.m., the commander of the IDF's Southern Command conducts a telephone assessment of the situation with his men following concrete information about SIM cards activated on cell phones and following additional sensitive information that has arrived.
One of the scenarios discussed by the IDF officials was the possibility of a terrorist raid into Israeli territory.
At 4:00 a.m. (two hours before the actual attack began), the Chief of Staff gives an order to conduct an aerial inspection using a drone that will photograph the preparations for firing at Israel.
Despite all this, no defensive actions were taken and no preparations were made for the possibility of an attack
It is very likely that because of these findings that were mentioned and exposed, Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Southern Command Commander Yaron Finkelman announced the end of their duties.
* Kikar Hashabbat contributed to this article.
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